Internal combustion vehicle engines have typically used carburetors to control their fuel-air mixture. A carburetor performs this task by drawing in liquid fuel from a fuel reservoir, vaporizing the liquid fuel, and then mixing it with a stream of air. More recently, carburetors have been replaced with more efficient electronic fuel injectors that pump vaporized fuel into an air stream in a timed or metered fashion. Because of their increased efficiency and performance, electronic fuel injectors have largely replaced carburetors in most vehicles today.
The timing of the operation of the fuel injector is regulated by a control assembly that sends electrical signals via an electrical connector. However, due to the electrical connector's close proximity to the engine pistons, it is subjected to particularly severe vibrations and is prone to becoming disconnected from the fuel injector assembly. The vibrations cause the electrical connector to suffer degraded performance by allowing contact phenomena, such as fretting or jitter, to establish themselves between the contacts of the electrical connector and the fuel injector. When the connection between the electrical connector and the fuel injector is not sufficiently secure, these problem are often exaggerated because any movement or “wiggle” between the two components worsen over time until the two components become disconnected.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a electrical connector that is securely attached to a fuel injector assembly to provide a stable electrical connection between the control assembly and the fuel injector assembly. It would also be advantageous to provide an electrical connector that is resistant to shaking and vibration so as not to interfere with the electrical connection between the control assembly and fuel injector assembly.